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It has been 54 years since Kenya gained its independence from the British colonialists. On June 1 1963 it was granted self-rule and on December 1 of the same year it became fully independent. Kenyans celebrate both occasions; today marks Madaraka Day. Sekou Toure Otondi argues that the Madaraka Day celebrations have lost their significance and wonders if it’s time to abolish the day altogether.
South Africa has been governed by the ANC since democracy in 1994, which means the party’s president is also the country’s ruler. But because the two terms of office aren’t in sync it has resulted in a ‘dual power’ structure operating. The long gap between the ANC’s choice of its president and the country’s general election is a recurrent source of potential instability, warns Roger Southall.
Today marks another major milestone in The Conversation Africa’s journey. We are opening an office in Lagos as part of our drive to expand our coverage of West Africa and to ensure we deliver articles that represent a broader pan African perspective. This brings to three the newsrooms we have across the continent – South Africa was established in 2015 and Kenya in 2016. Declan Okpalaeke, who is joining us as Editor at Large, will spearhead our West Africa build. He will be working from the Nigerian Academy of Sciences on the University of Lagos campus.
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Kenyans celebrate to mark Madaraka Day.
Noor Khamis/Reuters
Sekou Toure Otondi, University of Nairobi
Since Kenya gained independence from the British, the country has marked two independence days every year. But is the 'self-rule' Madaraka Day celebration necessary?
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Politics + Society
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Roger Southall, University of the Witwatersrand
The internal processes of South Africa's ruling ANC for electing the president is distorted by money, patronage, factionalism and vote-rigging. It negates the democratic legitimacy the party claims.
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Environment + Energy
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Erik Nordman, Grand Valley State University
Kenya has abundant energy options like solar, and geothermal that are cheaper than coal. A proposed new coal plant could become a 'stranded asset'.
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Health + Medicine
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Craig Kinnear, Stellenbosch University; Brigitte Glanzmann, Stellenbosch University; Eileen Hoal, Stellenbosch University; Marlo Möller, Stellenbosch University; Michael Urban, Stellenbosch University; Monika Esser, Stellenbosch University; Nikola Schlechter, Stellenbosch University
The advent of genetic technologies has been reducing the time and cost attached to diagnosing rare genetic diseases.
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From our international editions
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Lucyna Kedziora-Chudczer, UNSW
We may need to re-think our models of Jupiter’s formation thanks to the first results from Juno probe orbiting the planet, and new observations from Earth.
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Ingrid Appelqvist, CSIRO
Your genes, your saliva and the bacteria that live in your mouth all shape how food tastes and what you prefer to eat.
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Katherine Brown, University of Birmingham
She is an independent young woman with a mind of her own.
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